He had asked if you wanted to stop. Neither of you wanted that, but you were a smart kid, and he knew it. Every nerve ending screamed at you to shake your head, but you took the offer and it was done. You just weren't ready. No one was ready for something that heavy, especially you.

It was going to be a long time before your teenaged emotions let you understand that you made the right choice, even if it was the painful one.


But right now, smelling his smell, you wonder if he'll ever answer his phone again. The school's world-weary secretary swears she's never heard of anyone by that name. But teachers don't just disappear.

You've changed your mind out of panic and you just know that if he picks up, you can beg him to take the whole thing back, and you can worry about whether or not it's a mistake later.

But he's not going to pick up. Not for a long, long time. Until you grow up, it's better this way.

---

I'm not sure if that's exactly how it went down in the past with these two. But I wanted to give young Taira another shot and his wearing Rieru's oversized black sweater has always been very symbolic to me of their relationship. I still say I hated his old hair and I like adult Taira better, but some people are into the jailbait version. >:D